2002 Press Releases

Article by Ambassador Laura E. Kennedy for "Gurbansoltan-Eje" Women's Magazine

March 2002

Greetings to the readers of Gurbansoltan-Eje magazine on International Women's Day.

Women have achieved many successes in the campaign to gain equal rights and opportunities around the world. Regrettably, much remains to be done especially in the developing world. Ideally, when women have gained equal status with men there should no longer be a reason to have a separate day devoted to women.

I have always been proud to consider myself a feminist. I attended Vassar College, which was the first college founded for women in the United States in 1861. When I joined the diplomatic service in 1975, there was only a small number of women. This number rapidly expanded after the State Department dropped the requirement that female diplomats quit the Foreign Service if they married. I am the second female to serve as an Ambassador in Turkmenistan. I hope to see more female Ambassadors working in Ashgabat as well as more female Turkmen diplomats.

Women are increasingly moving into the top ranks of American diplomacy. I name just a few: Madeleine Albright recently served as our first female Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice is now serving as the first female National Security Advisor to the President and my boss, Beth Jones, is the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. Ambassador Jones is one of the biggest stars of our Foreign Service and I was delighted to receive her in Ashgabat January 30 and 31. In addition to her official meetings with President Niyazov and his advisors, she met with a number of non-governmental organizations and student groups. Among them were many Turkmen women. When we visited Turkmen State University together, she honored the winners of the Turkmenistan law student competition. I am delighted to report that they are both female! These two outstanding law students will represent Turkmenistan in a prestigious international competition that my country will host this March in Washington DC.

There is a perception that Islam by nature discriminates against women. I have served in several Islamic countries (America is also a nation of Islam) and I do not share this view. I note, however, that women have indeed been discriminated against and sometimes horribly treated (such as by the Taliban in Afghanistan) by those who falsely invoke the authority of Islam. A freely performing democracy provides the best means of ensuring that women have equal rights with men.

When I first visited Turkmenistan in 1993, I met a number of very impressive female professionals whom the new U.S. Embassy was fortunate enough to have hired in its early days here. When I returned here as U.S. Ambassador in October, 2001, I was enormously pleased that these same gifted women were still working for us. I am also delighted that the United States has attracted many of the best and brightest young women of Turkmenistan's new generation to study in the United States. I have been honored to meet many women who are active in non-governmental organizations here. I look forward to meeting the first female cadets who will graduate from Turkmenistan's Military Academy next year.

I have also met a number of senior female members in the government including Vice Chairwoman Djemal Geoklenova, the General Prosecutor Bibi Atadjanova, the new Minister of Economics Enebay Atayeva, and Turkmenistan's Ambassador to the United Nations, Aysoltan Atayeva.

Of course, the status of women cannot be gauged by a few employment statistics. It is always impressive to see women in top jobs, but far more important to establish that they have equal access to jobs across the full spectrum and receive the same pay as men. Equal access to education is a key indicator of women's status. In this regard, I note that 65% of those finishing technical colleges in Turkmenistan are women as are 32% of those graduating from higher educational institutions. It is vitally important that family law and family health issues receive full attention from the government. I look forward to finding out more about the status of women in Turkmenistan in the next several years and to sharing information about women in America.

I am enjoying my work here very much and am very grateful for the hospitality that has been shown me thus far. I look forward to introducing Turkmenistan to my family when they come here for the first time in March. My husband, John Feeney, is also an American diplomat who is currently assigned to Vienna, Austria where my two sons, Martin and Patrick Feeney, are attending high school.

I was very pleased to see that the editors of "Gurbansoltan-Eje" magazine published an article in January featuring the work of the Peace Corps in Turkemenistan. This program is an excellent opportunity for our people to learn more about each other. I hope that the readers of "Gurbansoltan-Eje" magazine might be interested to find out more about my work here and that of my colleagues in Turkmenistan on our Embassy Ashgabat web site.